Our Couch

For those of you who have never sat on the big comfy couch in our living room, you're missing out. I'm pretty sure it is the most comfortable couch I've ever had the opportunity to sit on. Part of it's comfort comes from the fact that is huge. Trey can lay horizontal on it and he doesn't touch either end of the couch. I have short friends, ie Kat :), who are swallowed up by it's massive size, and their little legs kind of dangle in the air instead of being able to touch the ground.

Why, might you ask, am I posting about a couch? I'll tell you why: this couch is my greatest downfall in the mornings. Every morning before work, I like nothing better than to watch a little bit of Good Morning America, drink a chai, have my quiet time, surf the internet, eat some yogurt...all from the comfort of our couch. Unfortunately, on weeks like this one where I have to be ready for work by 8 or 8:30, this makes my morning routine difficult. Typically it means that I finally get up and get moving about 15 minutes too late, I hurry up and shower, put on my makeup, fix my hair, rush out the door...and my day has then started in a rush. This very thing is probably going to happen this morning, in fact. I find it interesting, though, that my morning routine of relaxation in the end actually causes me to start my day in a flurry. Now there, my friends, is your deep thought for the day.

On a side note, Trey's downfall in the mornings is that warm cocoon he spins for himself in the bed. Every morning he has the hardest time getting out of bed because he just wants to lay there and sleep. It's so cute and so funny. I took a picture one morning, which I've included below. I know you can't really tell what's going on, but just know that the big white lump you see there in the picture, well that's Trey wrapped up in his cocoon.

Savealot: More than just your average grocery store.

Hello hello boys and girls. Here we are and it's Tuesday night. There's a reason I didn't want to start posting on this blog and I'll tell you why: I love to write. (I also love to right as in "be right" but those occassions are few and far between so I'll stick with writing.) It's an addiction and I knew I'd be up at 11:30 when I should be asleep writing because something struck me funny during the day and I have to get it out before I forget. So here we go:

"Savealot" or "The Adventures of a Happily Married Man on a Tuesday Night"

Today I was busy slaving away at work trying to make the pile disappear and keep students and dollar signs from falling off the world when the phone rings. Kara was calling and started in right after I said hello. "I was going to text but I'm driving and I was just thinking how good your prime rib soup sounds for dinner tonight." Now, my accountant had already ok'd me to go eat lunch with a friend and put it on our debit card (above and beyond the weekly budget) so I knew the favor was being called in but didn't mind. Even though it didn't sound good to me for dinner (but it did sound good for lunch tomorrow) I agreed to make it.

For those of you who didn't know it, I can cook. I'm not big on advertisement or self-promotion, but I can cook. Without a recipe book. And so far Kara has liked everything I've made for us. The conversation continued, "But we don't have any cream of mushroom soup so one of us will need to buy some." In my mind, this meant "I'll go to the grocery store and pick some up while I'm out seeing clients today." But what it really meant was that whichever one of us headed home first would stop and pick up cream of mushroom soup at the store. So we agreed whoever got through with the day first would text the other and stop at the store.

Well, Kara had counseling appointments until 7 and I was going to work out and play racquetball, so that meant it would be 50/50 on who ended up going to the store. Fortunately, I finished up and was headed home by 7 and ended up going to the grocery store. Which for me, means Save A Lot.

Why Save A Lot? First, I hate going to the grocery store. HATE it. Crowded parking lots, crowded aisles, rude people, dirty floors, screaming kids, dogs running around... (ok, I'm getting a little carried away now. Back to my love of the GREATEST grocery store ever.) Second, where we now live it is not convenient at all to run to the real grocery store. But it's only 300 yards from our apartment. You could walk to it if you need to (but I don't- fortunately I have a faithful '97 Dodge Ram that gets me there and back). Third, Save A Lot knows how to focus on what is important and forget everything else. You don't have to walk through the tire section to find the milk. (If you want tires, there's a Dollar General right next door anyway.)

And speaking of food, Save A Lot has plenty of it. As I walked around the aisles, my heart lifted as I saw the plethora of food laid out in a cornicopia of gloriousness. Save A Lot has all the food men need: vienna sausages, corned beef hash, chili, spam, saltine crackers, mik, and canned fruit. You can even get salad if you want it. (But I suggest you skip the salad and buy canned milk because their shelf life equals the other products.) And deodorant- which is ok at a grocery store- but not tires. They even have a big bin of japanese peanuts (cacahuates japonese, just in case you want to ask for them in Spanish) by the checkout stand! Does it get any better than that? (No my friends, it doesn't!)

So I loaded up on all the stuff I love that Kara doesn't buy for me. Before you start thinking my wife is failing me, it's not that she won't buy it. It's just my little hamster-on-a-wheel brain doesn't think of this stuff when I'm looking at the grocery list. So I have to buy it all on impulse as I see it. (Much like everything else I try to talk Kara into buying when she lets me tag along on outings with her.)

To make a long story short, I walked up to the counter with arms loaded down with canned goods and dumped them out on the counter. Whereas a cashier at another store would've looked at me like I was from Mars, this lady just smiled and said, "Will that be all?" And I said, "Yes ma'am!" I wanted to hug her I was so happy to find all the stuff I love to eat. And on a Tuesday night. It doesn't get any better than it!

So I drove on home to cook for my lovely wife with the bright shining red beacon of goodness in my rearview mirror. Every morning I chug past you with my warm mug of coffee and most evenings I cruise by, comforted by the knowledge that those smiling windows will always have good food on the other side of them!

P.S. I did make it home with the mushroom soup. :)

And you thought you had to worry about dog meat...

After much prodding and pleading, I have decided to answer the call and write a post. So hello, ladies and gentlemen.

"The La Playa Maya Incident" (or as I like to call it: "You don't have to worry about little Buzz showing up in the tacos.")

Yesterday in Fort Worth was beautiful- 60ish, sunny, and a light breeze. After hanging out around the house and enjoying the morning, we loaded up and headed to another wonderful service at Hope Church. It was the conclusion of a two-part series on worship. Last week we heard about why we should worship and this week we learned about how we worship. I'm sure most of you have heard the expression concerning the "audience of One," but I never thought about the fact that God is our audience when we worship (and the Judge of it). How many times do we go to a worship service and complain because we didn't like the music, thought the preaching was lame, etc... It was eye-opening to think of worship that way. Not only are the worship leader and pastor held to a higher accountability, we all are. (So how many of you are checking this blog from your iPhone in church, huh? Bam! Two sins already: not worshipping fully AND idolatry. Sinner!)

Anyway, as we were leaving, Kara asked me about lunch. I had already decided that morning that since we were going out to eat that night and I'd had a late breakfast I was only going to have a sandwich for lunch. However, our financial planner was hungry and so she decided we had the money to eat out for lunch. (Last week it was me who decided we needed to eat out.) We called Frank and Kelly to meet us, but they were forced to decline due to feeling a little under the weather.

We quickly arrived at La Playa Maya and decided that since the weather was so nice we could eat outside. The weather was a little cool, so we pulled the jackets out of the car and sat down looking forward to some excellent Mexican food. Kara didn't even need to look at the menu to know that she wanted chicken nachos. I had "Tacos Tipico" and lemonade (aka "Baptist beer") and they were delicious! Our food came quickly and we dug in and started eating. With three nachoes to go on Kara's plate, she was almost finished eating. As she picked one up, it fell off the fork and landed upside down on the plate. Lo and behold, there was a small (1/2" long) glob of raw chicken on the bottom of the nacho. Kara turned a nice pale shade of white and looked like she was about to retch.

I decided immediately to make sure that the rest of the meal went well and that my wife didn't run out to the car and burn rubber, so I said, "It's all right- large restaurant, big kitchen, probably new staff, these things happen." I also thought (and said), "Let's not make a big deal out of it but we do need to tell the waitress." (This all took about 10 seconds.) During this ten seconds, I also finished my last bite of taco so I asked, "Are you going to eat the rest of those?" I tried really hard not to laugh as I said it because I knew Kara's meal was done- no more water, no more nachos, no more chips and salsa, no more dessert.

To make a long story short, Kara handed me the plate and I polished off the last of the nachos. We told our waitress and she automatically offered us a free dessert. Since I knew I'd have to polish off a whole order of sopapillas and was pretty full we turned it down. After we left, I took Kara for Frosties (Wendy's oh-so-delicious softserve ice cream treat in case you don't know what they are. Mmmmm.....) So, after a Frosty and a walk in the sunshine while Kara gushed over our new Great Dane she already owns (in her mind), she recovered from the "La Playa Maya Incident."

Needless to say, we'll be giving La Playa Maya on Hemphill a little break. Thank goodness there's another location on Camp Bowie! Let's hope they haven't had a lot of turnover in the kitchen lately also.... Oh, and I'm not sick from the raw chicken (in case you were wondering). All in all, it was a good day.

Well, boys and girls, the company's been good but the bed is calling and I've still got a chapter to read for Stats. So, everybody have a good one, be a good one, and I'll see you in the next post!

A Story...

I'm sipping some coffee, watching the news, and prepping myself for the week. Poor Trey couldn't fall asleep last night, so he's in worse shape than me. Glad I made extra coffee so he can partake.

Yesterday we ate lunch at our favorite restaurant, La Playa Maya. I was traumatized when, after eating almost every nacho on my plate, I turned one over and discovered a piece of raw chicken. But my trauma was only worsened when, after showing Trey and telling him how disgusted I was, he said "Well let me eat the last of the nachos, then." The man will eat anything. Oh, and there is also a little background to this story. The last time we ate there, which was with Lee and the kids, Trey and Lee discovered a raw fishtail in our basket of chips. Needless to say, we won't be eating at La Playa Maya anymore.

Hopefully Trey will be posting some on the blog, too. I've set it up so he can. We shall have to wait and see if he takes the bait.

I Didn't Mean to Do This

Nothing pains me more than being so far away from my family. I often read the blogs of other friends who live far from their families, and I know that they post so their loved ones can feel a little more connected to what's going on in their lives. I've pondered doing this for quite some time, and I actually didn't intend to start a blog today. However, curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to see how hard it would be to start a blog. It's not that hard at all. So here I am, posting...cool.

What's kept me from blogging? The thought that too many people already blog their thoughts, and who do I think I am, that I'd presume others would want to read my thoughts and opinions on anything? So this won't be a blog of my thoughts. This will simply be a blog of what is going on in the Holmes home, and it will be intended only for those friends and family members that I share the link with. With that being said, enjoy!